“We Are Returning Returning, returning, we are returning Borders shall not exist, nor citadels and fortresses Cry out, O those who have left: We are returning Returning to the homes, to the valleys, to the mountains Under the flag of glory, Jihad and struggle With blood, sacrifice, fraternity and loyalty We are returning Returning, O hills; returning, O heights Returning to childhood; returning to youth To Jihad in the hills, [to] harvest in the land We are returning”

When news of the hostage taking in Sydney broke on December 15, 2014, reporters trying to cover the story were scrambling for scarce and valuable commodities: the facts.Their coverage echoed what had happened in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, just a few weeks before. Both stories were about one armed man, acting alone – as opposed to as part of a wider conspiracy – and both stories were accompanied by news coverage that seemed disproportionate, both in editorial tone and in terms of volume. It was template journalism and the media were peddling the Islamic terror narrative.

Meanwhile Al Jazeera peddles the "no jihad to see here, folks, best move along now" narrative.

Thursday, December 25, 2014

In light of the recent kerfuffle in Ireland and the direction in which Holocaust remembrance has been heading (i.e. embracing "diversity" and stripping it of its specificity), Ben Cohen thinks it might be a good idea:

Increasingly, Holocaust education is becoming general tolerance education. From warning against the evils of genocide in general—a legitimate and important thing to do—we now wield the Holocaust as a tool to combat ills from the bullying of overweight kids to anti-immigrant rhetoric. And that means we lose our perspective. You don’t need to invoke the Holocaust to explain why harassing someone over their appearance or their origins is wrong.

Equally, this same emphasis on one human family is diluting the particular lessons of the Holocaust for Jews, as well as providing an opportunity for anti-Zionists—of whom there are many in Ireland, as is the case elsewhere in Europe—to scorn and demean the idea that Jewish sovereignty is the best answer to the persecution of our people.

So if commemorating the Holocaust in the public sphere requires Jews to play down their affiliation with Israel, and to elide the intimate connection between what the Holocaust represents and the significance of a Jewish state in our own time, then I’d say we are better off without Holocaust Remembrance Day.

That doesn’t mean Jews should forget about the Nazi extermination—nor will they, as the enduring power of Yom HaShoah in Israel attests. But surely it’s better to just commemorate it amongst ourselves, and stress to the outside world that self-determination is our antidote to centuries of anti-Semitism, than to be forced into ugly compromises about when we can or can’t mention Israel.

The same could be said of "outreach" efforts involving Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Maimonides, the “second Moses” (d. 1203), was a renowned Talmudist, philosopher, astronomer, and physician. His Epistle to the Jews of Yemen was written about 1172 in reply to inquiries by Jacob ben Netan’el al-Fayyumi, who headed the Jewish community in Yemen. At that time, the Jews of Yemen were experiencing a crisis—hardly unfamiliar to Maimonides—as they were being forced to convert to Islam, a campaign launched in about 1165 by ‘Abd-al-Nabi ibn Mahdi. Maimonides offered the Yemenite Jewish communal leader guidance, and what encouragement he could muster. He makes clear that the unrelenting persecutions of the Jews by the Muslims is tantamount to forced conversion. The Epistle to the Jews of Yemen also provides an unflinchingly honest view of what Maimonides thought of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, and about Islam generally. Maimonides referred to Muhammad—Islam’s prototype jihadist—as a bellicose “ha-meshugga,” “Madman,” whose objective was “procuring rule and submission,” whereby “he invented his well known religion.” The Hebrew term, ha-meshugga, as historian Norman Stillman has observed wryly, was, and remains, “pregnant with connotations.”

Reflecting upon Maimonides timeless wisdom, we must have the intellectual fortitude to contemplate, with candor, from a non-Muslim perspective, whether Islamic jihadism and “madness”/“madmen” may interact in a complementary, even synergistic manner.

There are music services stores can subscribe to that mix regular canned music with the odd holiday tune, but sadly, my old store always went whole hog with the Xmas schlock. My most hated: The Chipmunk song. After a few years of torture, I discovered a way to create the silence. I would use one of the store's portable phones (this was at Home Depot), activate the paging system, and hide the phone. We'd get several hour of bliss, until a manager found it and turned the tunes back on.

How great is it that two chick comedians--one Jewish, one Muslim--have joined forces, and even share an apartment? As far as the Canadian Jewish News is concerned, it's pretty freakin' great. Something to celebrate, even--even though one reason they get along so well is because they're completely in synch re that awfully fraught Palestinian-Israel situation:

Comedians Eman Elhusseini and Jessica Salomon remember hanging out at a now closed comedy club in Montreal several years ago and getting into a discussion, over drinks, about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The bar completely cleared out,” laughs Salomon, a red-haired, native Montrealer who jokes in her set that she looks more Irish than Jewish. “People were pretending to be smokers so they could get away from us.”

But the two comics, who had recently met through Montreal’s standup scene – though Elhusseini, also in her 30s, born in Kuwait and raised in Montreall by Palestinian parents, had several years on Salomon in terms of experience – were energized by the discussion and launched into fast friendship.

They currently share an apartment in Brooklyn, where they’re based temporarily as both work to break into the scene there.

“[Israel-Palestine] was never really an issue between us,” Salomon said. “We’re both open-minded, moderate and always curious to hear each other’s perspectives.”

And by "open-minded" and "moderate" what she really means is that they both hate Israel in a "moderate" and "progressive" sort of way:

Having just finished its fifth year (though fourth in Toronto and Ottawa), Kosher Jokes played to a packed crowd at Toronto’s Comedy Bar Dec. 14, hosted by local comedian Faisal Butt, with the show’s jokes running the gamut from Jewish and Arab parents, respectively, to intermarriage, sex and male pattern baldness.

Though Israel was only briefly touched on, by Salomon, who did a bit about the country being like the abandoned house in a horror movie: Beautiful and enticing, but haunted by its previous tenants, who, it turns out, “actually have a legitimate claim” on the place, the women explained they don’t shy away from the subject in their material.

“I’ve made so many Israeli-Palestinian jokes in the past,” Elhusseini said, “But it’s hard to constantly generate new material about it…I’m doing more jokes these days about religion.”

In fact, Israel is nothing like an abandoned house in a horror movie, and the notion that it is veers into Zionhass territory, a locale, where, obviously, these two feel completely at home.When a Jew who's a Zionist hooks up with a Muslim in a common comedy project--now, that will be news. Two "progressives" establishing a partnership and trashing Israel in the process is as ho hum as it is profoundly unfunny.

was first launched in 2003 by Muslim youth to tackle the backlash on Islam and Muslims after the 9/11 and to build a bridge of understanding with non-Muslims.

Since its launch, the RIS has emerged as a major platform for some of the leading Muslim personalities from around the world to address one of the largest assemblies of Muslims in the western hemisphere.

Hanukkah is typically close enough to Christmas on the Gregorian calendar for Jews to "upgrade" holiday celebrations to the level of gift-giving, well-wishing and cookie-decorating in an effort to join the general revelry in the United States. Many Jews have adopted alternative rituals on Christmas, like going to the movies and going out for Chinese food. Within the Muslim-American community, some of that also holds true: “It’s a great time to get Arab food,” Ahmed said with a laugh.

But there is no seasonal Muslim holiday equivalent (the Islamic calendar is also based on the lunar calendar so the major holidays like Ramadan and Id al-Adha shift each year, rarely crossing paths with Christmas), and even if there were, the Muslim concept of bid’ah forbids the creation of new holidays and rituals that weren’t observed by traditional scholars and theologians.

One way that Muslims in North America are dealing with the holidays is by coming together en masse to reflect on their faith and discuss issues of spirituality in their community.

The largest gathering is the "Reviving the Islamic Spirit" conference in Canada, which began in 2003 and draws tens of thousands of participants annually. A "Knowledge Retreat" with Islamic scholars will take place this year from December 20-25, followed by the main event, December 26-28, in Toronto.

This major international conference draws many Americans, as well as Europeans and people from the Middle East, and features events for children, concerts and a long list of speakers addressing a broad range of topics, from the rise of atheism to the social collapse of Muslim states. Additionally, the Muslim American Society holds its 13th annual convention in Chicago on December 25-29, as well.

“RIS has been a good time [for Muslims] to re-center themselves and refocus themselves, and focus on their spirituality and their connection to the divine,” said Tasca...

And, let's face it, it must be really tough for those who believe in the supremacy of Islam to have to deal with the ubiquity of Xmas, and the confab affords 'em an excellent coping mechanism.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

The Obama administration is scrambling to track down an Al Qaeda terrorist released from Guantanamo Bay years ago, offering a $5 million reward for information on him and placing him on a global terrorist list.

Ibrahim al-Rubaysh was originally released in 2006 by the George W. Bush administration and put into a Saudi Arabian "rehabilitation" program. However, al-Rubaysh returned to the battlefield and now serves as a top leader with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- one of the most dangerous Al Qaeda affiliates.

The case underscores the continued risks in transferring detainees from the controversial prison camp -- another four were released over the weekend to Afghanistan...

The case underscores that Saudi "rehab" doesn't actually work. Also the need to keep Gitmo open.

"The Christmas holidays are a time when Canadians of all backgrounds and religions have the opportunity to think about what's important to them, and to spend time with their loved ones...“While it is a religious holiday specific to Christians, as Canadians we all benefit from thinking more about the overall well-being of our families and communities.”

Christmas can pose a challenge for Canadians of other faith traditions who do not celebrate the occasion.

“It is important to also recognize that there are families, or individuals, who come from Muslim majority countries where Christmas is not celebrated in the same way - if it is celebrated at all,” Ihsaan Gardee, Executive Director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), told OnIslam.net.

“They may not be used to the festivities, or the highly commercialized nature of the holidays.”

“This may also concern Canadian Muslim families who are struggling to inculcate a love for their own faith tradition in their children,” added Gardee.

“Families and communities may feel at a loss when trying to create a similar level of excitement around their own faith and cultural celebrations.”

The time of year can be especially difficult for families with young children who may feel excluded from the festivities.

Thanks for that blast of truth, Ihsaan. It's clear that for the NCCM (CAIR-CAN, rebranded), the "we're the victims" narrative prevails over the "Christmas benefits us all" one.

Call me cray cray (which is what French authorities are calling the perpetrators of these three "completely unrelated" incidents), but were I in charge of investigations, I think I might want to look into this Allah chap and why he seems to be having such a negative impact on some (let's call 'em) excitable men. Re the refusal of officials in Dar al-Harb, be they in France or New York City, to connect the links (or the "lone wolves"), Mark Steyn writes:

Is this one of those parlor games - like "Dead or Canadian?" Or "Gay or European?" Don't forget, if you're playing in the western media's daily Nothing-to-See-Here quiz, in the "Crazy or Muslim?" round the correct answer is "Crazy", every time.

These are not mutually incompatible categories: There are dead Canadians, and gay Europeans, and crazy Muslims. To get people to march in the streets shouting "What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want them? Now!" is relatively easy. To persuade Al Sharpton's swaggering halfwit goons to act on their slogans is another matter. A person has to be suggestible, and there's an accumulation of evidence that in today's world disaffected young Muslim men are the most easily suggestible of all. Whether they're suggestible because they're Muslim or they're Muslim because they're suggestible is one of those chicken-or-egg conundrums.

There's a third category, surely. They're suggestible and disaffected so they become Muslim. Hence the high percentage of urban terrorists who are "reverts."Update:Jihad expert Robert Spencer takes a different tack. Instead of examining the "crazy-or-Muslim?" dichotomy, he points to the deadly synergy of leftist and Islamist grievance mongering:

When he became Mayor, de Blasio moved swiftly, dismantling the legal NYPD Muslim surveillance program in April 2014 – thereby validating the Muslim activists’ claims that the program was racist, discriminatory and unjust. But the end of this program did not end the Muslim and Leftist sense of grievance, which was only fueled by the Brown and Garner incidents. Leftist and Muslim groups continued to fuel the perception that police were “racist” and “Islamophobic.”

The Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has repeatedlyexhorted Muslims to contact a lawyer and the nearest CAIR office if contacted by the FBI, and to “Know Your Rights” and say as little as possible. CAIR would, of course, hotly deny that they have given this advice to Muslims to protect those engaged in terror activity from detection and prosecution, but then the only other alternative is that CAIR wants Muslims to believe that law enforcement officials are engaged in an ongoing campaign to entrap and persecute innocent Muslims.

That message, of course, coincides perfectly with that of race-baiters such as Al Sharpton, who have labored so long to foster among black Americans the same idea. In Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley, these dual and interrelated grievances came together, and two policemen are dead. There will be more.

Update: Another suggestible "revert"--this time in Montreal--has it in for the cops. Luckily, he didn't get the chance to take action.

He'll be talking with Heather Reisman at her Manulife Indigo bookstore on January 28. The event gets underway at 7:00 p.m., but you'll want to get there early because seating is limited and it's first-come-first-served.Here's how it looked last time Mark hit the Manulife, way back in America Alone days (how long ago it seems!).

Monday, December 22, 2014

Revenge for the Sony hacking? We shall see. That said, how many North Koreans are actually on the Internet. One has the sense that NK 'Net connectivity looks a lot like a photo of the country after dark.

Update:Bambi huffs 'n puffs that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been "exploiting (the) country’s many differences for political advantage." That's pretty rich coming from the man-child who has no problem exploiting such differences to boost his own political fortunes, as he did here.

The director of BBC television has said the rise in antisemitism over the past year has made him doubt the future for Jews in the UK.

At a conference in Jerusalem on Sunday, Danny Cohen said: “I’ve never felt so uncomfortable being a Jew in the UK as I’ve felt in the last 12 months. And it’s made me think about, you know, is it our long-term home, actually. Because you feel it. I’ve felt it in a way I’ve never felt before actually.

“And you’ve seen the number of attacks rise. You’ve seen murders in France. You’ve seen murders in Belgium. It’s been pretty grim actually. And having lived all my life in the UK, I’ve never felt as I do now about antisemitism in Europe.”

Mr Cohen who grew up in London and went to a Jewish primary school, was attending a two-day conference at the Jerusalem Cinematheque on the ability of comedy to drive forward social change. He took over as BBC director in 2013...

My view: turning to comedy is a great way to blow off steam and preserve one's sanity, but in the age of political correctness and sharia-based anti-"blasphemy" efforts, comedy in and of itself can't and won't safeguard our freedoms, much less "drive forward social change" (whatever the heck that means).

Just to be clear, that isn't the point.The point is that, whether or not The Interview is a courageous act of defiance, the dictatorship of North Korea is now the de facto arbiter of which American-made movies should not be released in the U.S.

Friday, December 19, 2014

This is what passes for "miraculous" in progressive ranks--Israelis and Iranians singing together in an opera based on the life of false Jewish messiah Sabbetai Zvi, a chap who followed up his boffo career as a charlatan by "reverting" to Islam.To me that's no miracle. That's a dog's breakfast of narcissistic feel-goodism, signifying nothing more than that.

It was a visit that marked a turning point in Canada's relationship with Cuba, but Margaret Trudeau remembers the groundbreaking trip as one in which a dictator melted at the sight of her baby.

In some of the photos of Pierre Trudeau's closely followed 1976 trip to Cuba with Margaret and four-monthold Michel, Fidel Castro had a telltale stain on the front of his uniform, she remembers with a laugh.

"Fidel made it clear in his opening remarks that the parents were important but not nearly as important as the baby. In some pictures Fidel had a big patch of wet saliva on his uniform because he had come over early to cuddle the baby."

Thirty-eight years after that trip, Trudeau says she is celebrating the thawing of U.S.-Cuban relations along with the Cuban people, a move that was helped along through secret meetings held in Ottawa.

She remembers Castro during that visit as a "very warm and charming man - I enjoyed him."...

That's because you were lucky enough to be the ditzy wife of Canada's Commie-loving prime minister and not a Cuban compelled to live under the thumb of the "charming" despot.And guess what? Fidel isn't the first tyrant to evince a soft spot for an adorable infant.

Taking the data provided by the FBI, Rusin's analysis shows that Muslims suffered 13.1 of all hate crimes motivated by religion (versus, for example, Jews, who suffered 60.6 percent of all religiously motivated hate crimes).

One significant point these statistics speak to is that the narrative continually reinforced by Islamist organizations in America like the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) that Muslims – and hence, by proxy, Islam -- are under constant attack is false.

As Rusin writes, "The hate crime statistics for 2013 offer a fresh example of how reality refuses to conform to thedubiousnarrative of widespread Muslim victimization at the hands of American bigots."

Rusin's analysis confirms that, despite Islamist attacks on American soil – from 9/11 to Fort Hood to the Boston bombing, the statistics show that “Islamophobia” has not become a part of American culture.

The groups that suffered the most hate crimes, in order, were blacks (1,856 incidences), gay men (750), whites (653), Jews (625), Hispanics (331), people of other ethnicities (324), LGBTs in general (277) and lesbians (160).

A statistic that wasn't gathered (but should have been): the number of hate crimes against Jews that were perpetrated by Muslims.

It means there will likely be a lot more faux-edgy lampooning of safe targets (ones who won't fight back via the hacking of computers or heads) a la The Book of Mormon. (Maybe they can get Seth and James to star in the movie version).

Thursday, December 18, 2014

This is what happens to societies that fall for the septic bromides and false promises of multiculturalism:

The practice of pretending not to notice things that scream for our attention— things like suicide bombings, the targeted murders of innocent school children, beheadings, honor killings, subjugation of women, and the transformation of community mosques into Jihadist command posts– has been practiced to the point of perfection. The time was long ago reached where free peoples find themselves facing the most basic of all social tests. Do we value our way of life to take steps–any steps– necessary to defend it, or don’t we?

Canadian columnist Mark Steyn has been warning for more than a decade that it is the unprecedented affluence and physical security experienced by Western society since the end of World War II itself that has generated the very conditions that will soon put us all to the ultimate test.

Our multicultural embrace has transformed Western society into a vacuous nullity that stands for nothing and believes in nothing except our own cultural and moral inferiority. When the values and symbols of Western culture are denuded of all meaning, as modern multiculturalism has done with remarkable success, is it any wonder that those looking for something positive to affirm look someplace other than Western civilization? Those who continue to maintain the pretense that all cultures are equally worthy of respect bear ever increasing guilt for legitimizing the medieval death cult that glorifies the murder of innocent Muslim children inside Muslim schools, enslaves women, beheads hostages, burns churches, crucifies Christians and murders all who oppose them. ‘War’ has been the word used throughout human history to describe the response against hostile forces plotting the destruction of one’s society.

Yet, we can’t bring ourselves to admit what our enemies can’t stop admitting. The terrorists can’t stop talking about the Islam that motivates while our leaders can’t stop pretending that there are no such admissions.

Tragic it was for the two infidels who were killed and those who loved them. "Senseless" it most definitely was not. It was a well-planned out feat of jihad. And the failure to see the sense in it from a jihadi's perspective--something which, for obvious reasons, many Muslims don't want you to do--is cray-cray and suicidal.

According to the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph, Hamas militants are attempting to negotiate an arms deal with North Korea for missiles and communications equipment that will allow them to maintain their offensive against Israel.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, a U.S. federal court ruled that North Korea provided rocket and missile components for Hezbollah to use in its 2006 attacks against Israel.

According to the ruling, “North Korea provided Hezbollah with advanced weapons, expert advice and construction assistance in hiding these weapons in underground bunkers, and training in utilizing these weapons and bunkers to cause terrorist rocket attacks on Israel’s civilian population.”

Arms sales continues to be one of the Kim regime's top revenue sources. The question remains: where does it get the weapons from?

Last year, the Cuban regime was caught red-handed smuggling 240 tons of weapons to North Korea. This constituted the largest amount of arms and related materiel interdicted to or from North Korea since the adoption of resolution 1718 (2006).

The interdicted shipment, aboard the Chong Chon Gang, included surface-to-air missile systems (that can take down planes), missile components, ammunition, radars and other miscellaneous arms-related materiel.

What if these missile systems had ended up in the hands of Hamas or Hezbollah?

Other Cuban weaponry may have, as there were at least seven other North Korean vessels that made similarly elusive trips (as the Chong Chon Gang) to Cuban in the last few years.

Regardless, this is another reason why Cuban officials and entities responsible arms trafficking with North Korea must face consequences for their illegal actions.

Apparently, the "consequences" are really good ones--American businesses rushing to make deals with Havana and American touristas flooding to Cuba's sandy white beaches.Hey, maybe they can close Gitmo and turn it into a Club Med.

BPP - Black Panther Party - Founded in the United States in 1966 by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. It adopted Marxist-Leninist principles along with urban guerrilla warfare, and a structure similar to the American Communist party.

DGI - Directrio General de Inteligencia - The Cuban Department in charge of collecting intelligence and carrying out covert operations outside Cuba.

DLN - National Liberation Directorate - Organization created in Cuba to support revolutionary groups throughout the world. Responsible for planning and coordinating Cuba's terrorist training camps in the island, covert movement of personnel and military supplies from Cuba, and propaganda apparatus.

EGP - Ejercito Guerrillero de los Pobres - A political-military Marxist-Leninist organization that followed Cuba and Vietnam as revolutionary models. This Guatemalan insurgent organization was trained in Cuba and was very active during the 1970s, seeking to depose the political and military structure of the country.

ELF - Eritrean Liberation Front - The most influential Eritrean organization fighting for secession from Ethiopia in the 1960s, actively supported by the Cuban and Syrian regime since 1965. Various internal divisions developed later on until the late 1970s, when a new front was built based on very different domestic and external alliances and, eventually led the Eritreans to victory. Cuba's support to Mengistu Haile Mariam's regime in 1978 meant the cessation of previous Cuban backing to the Eritrean cause.

ELN - National Liberation Army - Organized by the Castro regime, this Colombian Marxist insurgent group was founded in 1965. Its main terrorist activities includes kidnapings and extortion targeting foreign employees of large corporations.

ETA - Basque Separatist Movement - This organization was founded by militants and leftist students from the University of Madrid in 1962. They formed guerilla units that commit violent terrorist acts claiming that they are fighting for freedom of the Basque Region, in Spain. This group has close relations with the IRA. The two groups have offices in Havana and their members have found safe haven in Cuba.

FARC - Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - Established in 1964, the FARC is the oldest and best-equipped Marxist insurgency in Colombia. It is a well-organized terrorist group that controls several rural and urban areas. It has received financial and military aid from Cuba and many of its members were trained in Havana.

FATAH - Palestine National Liberation Movement - Founded in 1959 by younger generations of Palestinians that had experienced the defeats of 1948 and 1956. The FATAH are strongly committed to a radical nationalist platform to fight for Palestine and against Arab intervention and manipulations of the Palestinian problem. Mostly an underground organization until the June War in 1967 when it transformed itself into the most powerful and influential party inside Palestinian and Arab politics.

FLN - Front de Liberation National - The political and military organization that led the war of national liberation against French colonial rule between 1954 and 1962. Ruling political party until the 1980s in Algeria.

FMLN - Farabundo Mart National Front - Formed in 1970, the FMLN is a terrorist Marxist-Leninist organization intent on establishing a communist revolutionary regime in El Salvador. The FMLN was extremely active in its terrorist campaign, receiving assistance from Nicaragua and Cuba.

FSLN - Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional - This organization was founded in Havana in 1961 when Carlos Fonseca-Amador's Nicaraguan Patriotic Youth organization merged with Tomas Borge's Cuban-supported insurgent group. The group adopted Marxist-Leninist ideology and gained support from the Castro government, employing low-level guerrilla warfare and urban terrorism tactics to overthrow the Somoza dictatorship.

IRA - Irish Republican Army - The IRA is the most dangerous terrorist organization of Northern Ireland dating back to the early 1920s. Although, it wasn't until the 1970's when the IRA began terrorist actions and resurrected the historical conflicts. The IRA targets political transformation for United Ireland by eliminating Britain from Northern Ireland and replacing the government of Northern Ireland with a socialist government. Its Latin American headquarters are in Havana.

LASO - Latin American Solidarity Organization - A Cuban controlled organization founded during the 1966 Tri-Continental Conference in Havana to "coordinate and foment the fight against North American imperialism."

M-19 - Movimiento 19 de Abril - A Castro supported group formed in 1974 to disrupt Colombia's government through acts of terrorism and violence. The M-19 was very active throughout the 1980s receiving assistance and training from the Montoneros and Tupamaros groups and the Cuban government, causing Colombia to temporarily sever diplomatic relations with Cuba.

MACHETEROS - This terrorist organization is composed of four Puerto Rican groups: 1) the Macheteros, 2) the Ejercito Popular Boracua (EPB), 3) the Movimiento Popular Revolucionario, and 4) the Partido Revolucionario de Trabajadores Puertorrique±os. Most of the Macheteros have been trained in Cuba, were they have established relations with other terrorist groups. They are responsible for several terrorist acts within the United States and throughout Puerto Rico.

MIR - Movimiento de la Izquierda Revolucionaria - A Chilean insurgent organization founded in 1965 and supported by Castro. The MIR was very active in the mid-1970s when they promoted violence and occupied several rural areas in Chile. The group encountered several set backs during the 1980s that essentially ended their activity.

MONTONEROS - An Argentinean guerilla organization that was formed in 1968 as a Peronist urban anti-government group. It adopted a Marxist ideology in the mid-1970s after it united with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Argentina. In 1977, many of its members were exiled and its numbers reduced to less than 300.

MRTA - Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement - Marxist-Leninist revolutionary organization formed in 1983 and supported by the Castro regime. The MRTA's intent was to establish a Marxist regime in Peru through terrorism, although Peru's counter terrorism program diminished the groups' ability to effectively carry out terrorist attacks.

NLF - National Front for the Liberation of South Yemen - Created in 1962 in the course of the revolution in North Yemen against the monarchy and supported by Nasser, the NLF is another important and successful branch of the Arab Nationalist Movement. Since 1965 it has had very close relations with Cuba. In 1966-1967, it broke with Nasser and finally forced the British to negotiate and evacuate Aden.

OSPAAL [OSPAAAL] - Organization for the Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America - Founded in 1966 in Cuba at the Tri-Continental Conference, this organization aims to support the struggle of the people of Africa, Asia and Latin America against imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism.

PLO - Palestine Liberation Organization - This organization was founded in Cairo in 1964 under the auspices of Egypt (then known as the United Arab Republic) to serve Nasser's manipulations of the Palestinian cause. The group was composed mostly of conservative Palestinian intellectuals and bureaucrats serving Arab governments. The PLO was an instrument of Nasser's foreign policy until the June War of 1967, when the old PLO leadership collapsed to be replaced by FATEH's leadership headed by Arafat.

POLISARIO - People's Front for the Liberation of Western Sahara and Rio del Oro - The Frente POLISARIO was inspired by the ANM tradition and the Algerian FLN and was created to fight against the Spanish-Morrocan-Mauritinian arrangements to split the former colony of Sagu a el Hamra/Rio del Oro (known as Western Sahara) between the two African states. This group enjoyed active support from Algeria and Libya and Cuba.

POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINES - The most important branch of the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM), created in the 1950s as radical followers of Nasser. After the June War of 1967, the group disassociated itself from Nasser and focused on building a more radical alternative within the Palestinians under the name of Popular Front. The group has strong alliances within Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, and the Gulf, and was heavily engaged in terrorist activities during the 1970s.

TRICONTINENTAL - Cuban publication disseminated by the Organization for the Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America (OSPAAL) [OSPAAAL] in four languages: Spanish, English, French, and Italian / promoting the Castro line of armed struggle.

TUPAMAROS or MNL - Movimiento Nacional de Liberacion Tupamaros - This Uruguay insurgent group was organized in the early 1960s by law student Raul Sendic. The Tupamaros were one of the first terrorist groups to use guerrilla warfare in urban areas and established independent terrorist cells throughout the country.

WORLD MATHABA - A Libyan project from the late 1970s to promote political, financial, and military support for revolutionary movements throughout the world. Ghaddafi called on other "revolutionary governments" to support this project, which Cuba did. MATHABA was essentially a tool in the hands of the Libyans to project their individual goals and agenda. Financial and military assistance was never a collective decision, but responded for the most part to bilateral arrangements between Ghaddafi's regime and individual organizations, some of which resorted, at different stages, to terrorist methods like the IRA and ETA. Insurgencies in Central America, like the Sandinistas and others, were privileged beneficiaries along with the African National Congress, Frente POLISARIO, and others.

So has Cuba suddenly turned over a new leaf? Doubtful. But why would that stop Barack Obama, friend of ex-Weatherman Bill Ayers and someone who's sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, from establishing a relationship with these terrorism-abettors?

Oh, not because Hamas is no longer committed to waging violent jihad; its dedication to the genocidal aims of its Charter remains as steadfast as ever. But you can always count on the EUnuchs to find some way to let Hamas off the hook because of who its enemy is, and because they hate Israel far more than they fear Hamas. Here's how it all went down:

Hamas should no longer be included on an influential list of international terrorist organisations, an EU court has ruled.

The General Court of the European Union, the second-highest court in the bloc, found that the inclusion of the group was not based on a "concrete examination" of Hamas's acts but on "imputations derived from the media and the internet".

In a statement, the court acknowledged that Hamas contests its inclusion on the list, maintained since it was created in 2001. Regularly reviewed, the list allows the bloc to freeze funds going towards those named, and acts as "a regulation to combat terrorism", the court said.

The court said it was nevertheless maintaining the effects of the measures for three months in order to ensure that any possible future freezing of funds would be effective.

And in a statement, the court stressed that taking Hamas off the list was a decision taken on "procedural grounds", rather than implying "any substantive assessment of the question of the classification of Hamas as a terrorist group".

Like the deceased Sydney jihadi, who should have been shipped back to Iran years ago, Hamas got off on a technicality.Update:Israel ain't impressed.

Who needs Section 13 (the late, unlamented "hate speech"/cesorship component of our Human Rights Code) when you can channel your affront into a genuine lawsuit? CUPW shows us how its done:

TORONTO — One of Canada’s largest unions is suing Sun Media Corp. and Avi Benlolo, president and CEO of Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, for saying it supports terrorism.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) is seeking $250,000 in damages for defamation from Sun Media’s parent company, Quebecor Media Inc., alleging it was smeared in a Sun News Network segment last summer.

The July 24 segment, titled Hamas, CUPW Flags Fly on Parliament Hill, which featured host Jerry Agar and guest Benlolo, blasted CUPW members for taking part in a pro-Palestinian protest in Ottawa the day before.

The broadcast said CUPW banners were flown near Hamas flags, and pointed out that Hamas is a banned terrorist organization in Canada.

A statement of claim filed in Ottawa on behalf of the union said the broadcast made “many untrue, disparaging statements about CUPW and its members,” including that CUPW has often “lent [its] support to terrorist organizations,” and that it “has a history of partnering up with hate groups.”

Agar and Benlolo “wrongfully state” that CUPW supports or partners with terrorist and hate groups, and Hamas in particular, the claim said. None of the allegations have been tested in court.

The segment remains available on the Sun News website...

There's a certain irony/sense of just desserts here in that Benlolo was one of the country's most vocal proponents of Section 13 (because, foolishly, he thought it was an effective and expedient way to tackle Jew-hate). He is now discovering what it's like to be on the receiving end of what is essentially an attempt to censor/silence him.As for CUPW, its Zionhass is longstanding, pervasive and hideous:

VANCOUVER, Canada (JTA) — The Canadian government called on the country’s postal workers union to apologize for using its monthly newsletter to attack Israel.

Canada "plays a key part in perpetuating war crimes" by Israel, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers’ March newsletter read, according to the Toronto Sun.

Steven Fletcher, the government minister responsible for the postal service, criticized the union’s statements.

"CUPW should apologize for this misuse of public funds and its anti-Israeli rhetoric," he said.

The union acknowledged that it used union dues to send letter carrier and activist Ruth Breen to protest in the West Bank last year, according to the Sun. However, also last year, the union refused to pay for members to attend a Free Palestine conference in Brazil, the Canada Post reported.

The postal workers’ union, known for a history of activism outside of labor causes, was the first Canadian union to call for a boycott of Israel when it did so in 2008. The union has 54,000 members.

SYDNEY — Iran tried to extradite the gunman behind Sydney's deadly hostage crisis years ago, Tehran's top cop said, amid questions over how the self-styled cleric had found his way to Australia but not onto a watch list. Man Haron Monis, a 50-year-old born in Iran, took 17 people hostage inside a downtown Sydney cafe on Monday. He was killed when police stormed the cafe to free the captives. Two hostages also died.

Monis grew up in Iran as Mohammad Hassan Manteghi. In 1996, he established a travel agency, but took his clients' money and fled, Iran's police chief, Gen. Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, told the country's official IRNA news agency Tuesday. Australia accepted him as a refugee around that time. The police chief said Iran tried to have Monis extradited from Australia in 2000, but that it didn't happen because Iran and Australia don't have an extradition agreement.

Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he wanted to know how Monis had been granted permanent residency and why he had been receiving welfare benefits for years, despite being able-bodied "if not necessarily of sound mind."

He was out on bail. He'd been successfully gaming the Oz kafirs for years. He knew exactly what he believed and why he believed it (it was right there in black and white, after all). To me, that sounds far sounder, mind-wise, than Tony making feeble excuses for a jihadi who was heeding the age-old command to wage jihad.

Recent polls show that more than two-thirds of Westerners don’t like Islam and are wary of Muslims. While this trend is alarming, it should not surprise us. A well-greased anti-Islam machine has been churning out Islamophobic material for decades and with increasingly vicious and effective methods. The recent rise of ISIS in the Middle East and constant news cycles that focus on Westerners about to be beheaded have provided much grist for the media mill of Islamophobia. Hamas shoots rockets into Israeli territory that when compared to Israeli weaponry is comparable to shooting firecrackers, and the response is disproportionately harsh – “shock and awe” – leaving many Palestinians dead or injured and countless without homes, water, schools, and basic infrastructure. With the increasing hatred toward Islam and Muslims, it is even harder to get people to sympathize with the Palestinians. These problems affect us all, both here and abroad. Recently, one imam declared the situation “code red,” a medical term for a life-threatening emergency. What steps can we take to redress the distorted image of Islam in the minds of so many people? Muslims themselves are conflicted: do we repeatedly denounce every evil that is done in our religion’s name, or do we try and reframe the public discourse to focus on the wrongs that have brought about many of the crises? With so many Muslim countries spiraling out of control, this only adds more fuel to the Islamophobic fire. What should be done? What can we actively do to help mitigate the crisis and make more people understand that the enemy is not Islam but the ignorance of Islam?

The enemy is the jihad imperative that serves the aims and ends of Islamic supremacism. Until they're prepared to admit that truth--and there isn't a hope in Hades of that happening at the moment--it is clear there is nothing they "actively can do to mitigate the crisis."

Those are but a few reasons I would give re "Why Jews still back Obama." The author of the article with that headline is rather more discursive:

[Jews' continuing support for Obama] just can’t be explained away as traditional Jewish-American liberalism (not that there’s anything wrong with that). President Jimmy Carter only got 45 percent of the Jewish vote in 1980, running against Ronald Reagan and independent John Anderson. History shows it takes more than a big “D” after your name to win Jewish support.

In Obama’s case, his continued popularity with Jewish voters rests on several accomplishments: Obamacare, which a 2012 American Jewish Committee survey found popular with Jews (if not all Jewish doctors); the economy, which you might remember was barely breathing before Obama and his team resuscitated it and rescued the automobile industry; and his approach to immigration reform and the environment. Poll after poll shows these rank high among Jewish voters.

What about Israel? Jews don’t blame Obama for what is widely seen as frosty relations between the administration and the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Only 21 percent in a recent poll said Netanyahu’s actions have helped American-Israeli relations.

And there is also this: Support for Obama is informed by a deep distrust of the forces arrayed against him. Mainstream, economically conservative but socially liberal Republican voices with thoughtful foreign policy solutions who could credibly counter Obama have taken a back seat in their party to more hysterical, radically right voices. In the back of their minds, Jewish voters have to be wondering, “If not him, then who?”

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Scaramouche is my nom de Web. My real name is Mindy G. Alter, and I like to think of myself as a free speecher with a sense of humour. My bailiwick: fighting on behalf of all the good things that free speech helps safeguard, and doing my utmost to highlight the malevolence and imbicilities of those who oppose freedom, whomever they may be.